


A Flaw In My Code

by tardiscrashing



Category: Internet Personalities, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Drama, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-24 14:48:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9766355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tardiscrashing/pseuds/tardiscrashing
Summary: “How do you stop a virus? You use an anti-virus blocker.” He walked toward his computer. “But what do you do…when Anti is the virus?” He pulled out the chair and sat down, fingertips ready at his keyboard, “You stop me.”(Sean, Signe and Robin must face Antisepticeye and save Jack and the persona's of their youtube friends from a dark demise)





	1. Skiamachia

**Author's Note:**

> This story was 100% inspired by Chase Holfelder's cover of "What A Wonderful World" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGXv4ynxeUg
> 
> The actions and feelings of the real people depicted in this story are fictitious. 
> 
> This is my very first story for the JSE fandom so I hope you guys like it.
> 
> I'm also slowly adding to a playlist for this story. You can find it here https://play.spotify.com/user/1261012765/playlist/22UKBPGqDlbBsUmGckA5fU

_Before him there was a corridor, grey, long, nearly endless. It was like that cubicle game. Like he was standing still and yet moving, trapped in some spinning vortex, everything on all sides getting darker. He wore he could someone…speaking….whispering._

“ _Sean….”_

_The eerie laughter seemed to echo all around him. It was a villain that accompanied the darkness. He felt static in his own ears, and humming beneath his skin. Even the bare walls seemed dangerous. Like they were electric._

_“I am here.”_

_The voice crept up behind him. He spun, ready to come face to face with his antagonizer, but it was just more darkness. So, so dark._

_“This body was weak.”_

_A mirror appeared and he found himself staring at his reflection. But the image in front of him changed. The eyes went dark and sunken, the lips crooked, and lines almost as if spaces in his skin were broken started to appear. He backed away quickly, hand pawing at his own face. The dark grew, the laughter louder, almost as if it was coming from his own mouth now._

_“You will LISTEN TO ME!”_

_He felt a sharp pain as he looked down and saw a sharp coiled wire protruding from his chest, the blood dripping down, turning black, and choking him from inside._

“Ahhhh!” Sean jumped, startling himself awake from his Anti-decorated nightmare. It was strange, this was the third time since ending his Anti Halloween play-along that he’d had a dream like this. Signe was still sound asleep beside him, he was glad he hadn’t woken her.  This dream was the worst one so far. He hated his brain for this. Not one Anti dream during the whole of October…but two weeks into the next month, three times already? Seemed normal. Sean had never really remembered his dreams much either, never made that big a fuss about them. But these he could recall every detail from. Almost as if he was there. It made his skin crawl…tried not to think about it really. It was too early to be awake, he could catch a few more hours, and lord knows he needed it. But risking falling back into the Anti-hole was too much, so for today, he’d be an early riser.

The cold was brisk, as was to be expected this time of year in Ireland. The fog coating the outline of the city and drifting over the trees like a threatening but familiar hug, sort of like an old uncle. Sean popped on the coffee maker and sifted through his cabinets for cereal. He had his laptop on within the hour, logged on to twitter to read and reply to a few tweets. He went to post one himself, and noticed something off about his twitter.

“Did I….hang on?” He said to himself, peering at the website, “Did someone change my profile?”

The name read “Antisepticeye” again and underneath were the words from his Halloween video. “Say Goodbye” spelled out in the Anti letters.  Sean swore he had changed it back to normal the first day of November…but now he wasn’t quite sure. Unless he was hacked…but it seemed unlikely that a hacker would only change his display name and leave everything else alone.

“Must’ve forgot.” Sean shrugged, readjusting the name and profile, and continuing on to type his tweet.

_Looks like you guys are still buzzed about Anti! It was so much fun, might have to figure out how to bring him back next year!_

The replies were flooding in before he could blink.

He knew the fans would love anything he did with Anti, it was part of the reason he had the idea in the first place. It was a great way to involve the community in his videos. He took bits and parts from their Anti head canons as inspiration, throwing in some creative license of his own. Fangs, glitching, psychotic movements, like Anti came straight from some hell matrix and was slowly taking over beyond Sean’s own control. Robin’s editing made it top notch too. He was amazed at the editing when the videos were finished.

“He’s almost too realistic.” Sean had said, looking over one of the VR edits. “Like I’m not that good, but you make him look so creepy. Me…him…is it weird to refer to him as a separate person?”

Was it weird? Anti had existed in the community for a while now, but he had only just taken on a life of his own. Sean never got too caught up in it, but it could happen, easily.

His laptop beeped, a message alert appearing at the bottom of the screen. ‘From: Unknown’ it read.

Sean clicked the message and his screen went dark.

“What the hell?”

He clicked again. The screen flickered and suddenly flashed rapidly in a bright red color, blaring a white noise that nearly knocked him off his seat, his headphones flung to the floor.

“Holy fuck! What is that?!” He shouted, trying to restore his screen to normal. Jump scares weren’t meant to be part of his daily life. His body was shaking…his eyes blurry from the sudden attack of flashing images. “Made me feel fucking weird, god damn it!” His heart thumped against his chest, and even after he made the noise stop it still felt like his head was humming. Sean looked toward the door. Signe was used to his shouting and noise by now, of course she didn’t think anything was wrong. He wanted to mention, but he didn’t want to scare her. He thought it best to just leave it alone.

“It was just a glitch.” He told himself. “Don’t make a big deal.”

A single white line of static flickered across the bottom of the screen just faster than Sean could see it.

***

“Did you not hear me earlier? Yelling? In the office?” Sean asked Signe, who was adjusting the placement of her newest little cactus.

“Yeah…when are you not yelling in the office?” Signe replied with a chuckle.

“But it didn’t sound like…unusual to you?”

“Honestly Sean, I’d worry more if I didn’t hear yelling.” Signe tugged her hair up, watching it fall out of its ponytail, “You’re not going to make me worry are you? Don’t do something dumb.”

He wanted to tell her about the noise but…no it was stupid. It was nothing. Some stupid file glitch or a soundbite that had loaded…some explanation. Nothing he should worry his girlfriend over. Sean watched as Signe tended to her plants and rearranged a few items on the shelf, dusting it off as she went.

He pondered while watching her, letting his thoughts drift off again. His phone buzzed and he picked it up, looking at the alert message.

_I’m here_

“Who the hell is this?”

There was no number or name on the message, it could’ve easily been a wrong number. But something in his gut told him that wasn’t the case. Signe turned curiously to watch as he slid the lock screen open and brought up his messages, typing in a reply to the mystery message. The still pause he spent waiting for a reply felt like an eternity.

“Nothing. Should’ve known.”

The phone buzzed again.

His blood went cold.

He picked up the phone again, and suddenly that same electronic white noise blared forth from the screen. It was so loud, Sean felt vibrations go through his entire body. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” He dropped his phone, watching as it clattered to the floor. He almost felt like he needed to get away from it. His hands were shaking.

“Sean?” Signe’s attention was fully on him now, her face twisted in concern as she watched her boyfriend try to calm himself down. She went over to him, crouching next to his chair. She brushed her fingers through his bright-green locks.  “Are you alright? Hey! Look at me. Sean?”

Sean didn’t know why Signe’s voice sounded so far away. Or why he could hear that noise in his head still. Signe reached for the dropped phone, and it was like he suddenly came back to life.

“No!”

She froze.

“Don’t touch it! Please!”

Sean had these dumb big anime eyes that wobbled when he had strong emotions, Signe had learned to recognize them by now. It wasn’t just his eyes though, he had scrunched his whole body up in the recliner, making himself look very small.  “What the hell Sean? You’re scaring me.”

“I’m…I’m just…” He looked up at her, tilting her head, before she reached for the phone that lay face down on the floor. Sean nearly cringed like it was a bomb. But nothing happened. Signe set it back on the table near him, and then stood with her hands on her hips. “I’m sorry…it’s nothing. Just being stupid.”

Signe sighed, “I get it…Robin’s coming tomorrow and you’re excited.”

Robin.

He had nearly forgotten.

“Yeah that’s it.” He uncurled himself from the chair. “Just anticipation you know?” He mustered up a smile.

“Your excitement does have a weird way of manifesting itself.” Signe commented before walking away back into the kitchen.

Sean reached for his phone again, pulling up the screen. It was fine. Everything looked normal, there were no message alerts, maybe he had imagined it. He still had editing and filming to do today and he couldn’t spend the hours afraid of his phone, so he shook it off. Let the phone slide back into his pocket and got out of the chair, headed for the recording room.

When Sean shut the door behind him, he stopped and listened. The room was quiet, he switched his phone to silent as he adjusted his microphone and camera to make sure they were in their recording position.  He couldn’t be distracted now, he had games to play.

“Stop going crazy Sean.” He said to himself as he pulled up the first game of the day and switched the mic on. “One, two, three.” He did his sound check clap to make sure the levels were good, and he was ready to go.

***

_“One…two…Anti’s coming for you…”_

_Sean’s head whipped around to the source of the haunting laughter, staring down a long dark corridor, but the floor seemed to light up at random moments._

_“You can’t run forever. I’ll find you. I’m always here…watching.”_

_Anti appeared in front of him and disappeared just as quickly, blurry like a hologram. Sean swung at the air._

_“Leave me alone!”_

_He looked around and thought he saw Signe, Robin, then Mark, Felix and Marzia. All of them fading it and out like ghosts._

_“You see Sean, you can’t save them. They’re with me now. You failed. You lost the game for good.” Anti cackled. The floor sparked with electricity and Sean felt his bones shake. “What are you going to do? You’ll disappoint so many people. All those subscribers, they all have faith in you, they all think you’re their friend…what if they knew you were just a coward.”_

_“Shut up!”_

_Signe appeared at the end of the corner, hands grasping at some invisible wall. She called to him but no sound came out. Sean watched as her clothing caught fire, a wall of flame bursting up around her. She looked at his with panicked eyes._

_“Signe? Signe!” Sean found he couldn’t move, “Stop! Please!” The ground felt empty beneath him, like he was suspended in the air. His arms felt like iron, heavy and slow, and his throat tight like a noose was hugging his neck. The fire grew bigger until he could see Signe anymore, and the room was deathly still. “Please stop…don’t hurt her.”_

_“There’s nothing you can do now.”_

_Sean looked down, Anti appearing in front of him. The same shock of green hair like he had, but one eye dark, cybernetic like he was some sort of malfunctioning android, black ooze running down his face. He grinned wickedly. When he laughed, it almost sounded digital._

_“Down here, I control everything. Even you. Down here, I am you. Jack doesn’t exist anymore.”_

_Sean’s handed clenched at the air. He felt his heart stop beating._

_“Game over”_

_***_

“Hey!”

Sean looked over at Robin, who was hugging the game controller in his palms and staring intently at him. They were playing Orpheus 21, at least they had been playing. Robin had noticed Sean had zoned out for the last few moments, and he was basically playing on his own now.

“Jack, you okay? You’ve been acting weird today.”

“Just tired.” Sean shrugged , “Stayed up late recording.”

“You’ve been acting weird the last few days.” Signe piped up, leaning against the door frame, “I’m a little worried.”

“What? Why? Don’t be worried. I’m fine.” Sean protested. He looked in between Signe and Robin, both of them with concerned expressions on their face, watching him as if he may shatter at any moment. Sean hadn’t told them about the dreams or about the weirdness with his computer or the phone…even though it was still happening. It had changed now too. He was starting to hear the voice…Anti’s voice…even without electronics. Like it was in his head. God he had convinced himself he was going crazy.

“What could you possibly not tell us?” Signe asked.

Great, now he felt guilty.

“Just some bad dreams is all. October was hectic…you know.” He gestured to Robin, “I guess all the Antisepticeye stuff sort of…bled over.”

“What do you mean?” Robin asked.

“I’ve been having nightmares. That’s all.”

Signe and Robin looked at each other, and then back at Sean.

“Don’t look at me like that. That’s all it is, I promise. I’ve had some bad dreams, they’ve kept me awake, and I haven’t been sleeping well. Signe please.”  Sean lowered his eyes, his expression soft. It was something Signe loved about him. She’d never seen that look on another boy.

“Fine. As long as you’re looking after yourself.”

“Of course.” Sean nodded, “Always.”

They resumed what they were doing, Signe exiting the room to tend to her own interests. Robin was still watching Sean out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t buy such a simple explanation.

Robin paused the game.

“Dude!” Sean whined.

Robin set the controller down.

“I don’t buy that bad dream bullshit for a minute Jack. You’re lying for Signe’s sake, you don’t want her to worry. Which means something really is going on. Now what is it?”

“Nothing. I’m just…”

“Jack! Talk to me! I’m your friend. Please.”

Sean sighed, his head back, lowering his hands from his face. “Ok…ok…I didn’t lie about the dreams. I have been having bad dreams. They get really graphic sometimes too, it’s gross. And it also feels like…I’m doing it. But it’s not me it’s…it’s Anti.”

“Anti? Your character?” Robin asked.

“I know this is going to sound crazy Robin but I keep hearing his voice. That glitchy electronic sound. It was on my computer, on my phone, now it’s in my head. It’s gotten louder. I feel like I’m losing it.”

“Dreams are one thing. You spent all of October embodying him, your mind just hasn’t shaken it yet.”

“What about the rest of it? My computer glitched the other day, opened some weird file full of flashing images and I nearly passed out.”

“Could be a virus.”

“Yeah…a virus called Anti.”

***

Robin followed Sean into the recording room, shutting the door behind them.  Sean pulled his chair up and switched his computer on, sitting back from the desk. “I saw the file again this morning when I was recording, but I didn’t open it this time.” He opened his email account and pulled the message up, “It’s still here.” He turned to Robin, “You open it.”

“You want me to open a file that gave you a panic attack yesterday? Not feeling really confident Jack.”

“It wasn’t a panic attack, it just freaked me out a little.”

“Again?” Robin shook his head, like he couldn’t understand Sean’s logic to this.

“Anti doesn’t want you.” He said, standing, “I think you’ll be fine. But uh….” He stepped over to the other side near the mattresses, “I’m gonna stand here just in case.”

He nodded at Robin, and Robin slowly took a seat in the neon green office chair and placed his hand on the mouse, moving the cursor over the file. He double clicked it and watched as a window opened up. It was dark for a moment, then a little character of Sean appeared on screen and began dancing around.

“Um…is this a fan thing?” Robin said, very confused. “This is just an animation. You must’ve opened the wrong file yesterday.”

“What? No! That’s not it! There was a….” Sean went and leaned over the keyboard, pushing Robin aside, “There was a sound file. It was his voice.”

“Isn’t his voice just your voice?”

“It was HIS VOICE, Robin.” Sean said sternly.

He clicked on the file again.

_Smile for the camera ehehehe_

Sean had hardly any time to react.

It was like someone hit a switch in his mind, everything went dark, and all he could hear was static. He was standing in that corridor again, the one from his dream. But he wasn’t dreaming. Was he dreaming? No, he was still in the room with Robin.

“Stop it! Let me out!”

_They’ll never realise how much they need you…until you’re gone. Ehehehehe!_

The static noise grew louder and louder, until it was almost deafening. Sean could only put his hands over his ears and curl into himself, eyes shut tight, hoping when he opened them it would stop. He could hear his name being called but where were they? Were they here?

“Sean! Sean, wake up!”

“Jack?”

Sean opened his eyes.

“Oh thank goodness.” Signe flipped her hair back, pacing back and forth, “Robin said you passed out, you scared us to death.”

“No I didn’t. I didn’t I was awake. I was…I was here. And…” He looked at them, eyes wide. “This is a dream. I’m still dreaming. He’s trying to trick me.”

“Sean, Anti is not real!” Signe yelled.

Sean looked at Robin with betrayal, “You told her?”

“I had too. Jack you were unconscious!” Robin defended.

“This has to be a dream. I can still wake up.”

“You’re not dreaming!” Signe shouted.

“But I have to be. Because if I’m not, then that means…” Sean’s nightmarish vision of Signe engulfed in flames replayed in his head. “How do you stop a virus? You use an anti-virus blocker.” He walked toward his computer. “But what do you do…when Anti is the virus?” He pulled out the chair and sat down, fingertips ready at his keyboard, “You stop me.”

***

“Oh my god.” Signe took a deep breath, head in her hands. “He must be exhausted. I’ve never known him to go to bed this early.”

“Yeah, he was shaken for sure.” Robin agreed. “Signe, you don’t think he’s right do you? Why would he act like this otherwise?”

“I’m supposed to believe his fabricated alter-ego is speaking to him through WAV files?”

“Electronics, actually.” Robin noted Signe’s expression, “That’s what he told me. His computer, his phone…he said there have been glitches and weird sounds. It could be a joke, but so far this really isn’t funny.”

“It’s got to be some fan thing we don’t know about yet. The Anti stuff was so popular last month, maybe they just kept it going.” Signe had her phone out, scrolling through twitter. Robin watched her fingers slow as she read a tweet silently to herself.

“What is it?”

“Someone in my mentions said ‘Hey Wiishu is something going on with Jack? His YouTube channel looks weird. We wanted to make sure everything was ok.’  Their eyes both panned over to the computer screen.

Within moments Robin was sat at the computer again and typed in the web address for Sean’s YouTube channel. At first glance everything looked normal. Robin clicked play on the latest video. The intro went as usual, the game began, Robin and Signe both sat watching it for around 5 minutes before Robin moved the scrobbler forward. Around the 12 minute mark, something happened. Signe caught it.

“Wait, there was something. Go back.”

“Here?”

“Almost. Pause it! There.”

Robin squinted at the screen, “I don’t see anything.”

“Can’t you like…play it extra slow or zoom in or something?”

Robin looked up at her, “This isn’t CSI Signe.”

She huffed, nudged him over and grabbed the mouse. “It’s really fast…there! In the video there’s something in the background. Like someone’s shadow. Look closer.”

Signe and Robin both got very very close to the screen, as close as their eyes would let them, Signe clicked play again.

_WE CAN SEE YOU!_

Signe screamed, jolting upwards, immediately covering her mouth to stifle the already escaped noise. Robin closed the window quickly, his heart feeling rushed. He turned to look at her.

“No.” She said, “No no no, Sean did that. He’s messing with us. He knew we’d look.”

“Signe, we both heard it.” Robin said.

“What? What did we hear Robin? You did all those special effects for him.”

“This wasn’t me.”

“Then who else could’ve…”

There was a sound. Like an electronic crackling sound. They both turned back toward the computer. The screen went dark, and a message began to appear as if being typed from somewhere.

_1…2…Anti’s coming for you…_

_***_

The rest of the week went normally. Signe dared not tell Sean what had happened, she was hoping it was a freak incident and whatever or whoever it had been, would just forget about it. Sean seemed more relaxed and back to his regular self in the days that followed. They saw Robin off home again, and Sean even made a joke about the incident on twitter not two weeks after.

_-Swore I heard Anti talking to me last week. I’ve finally lost it!_

Fans loved it, tweeting back such things like ‘How do we know you’re really Jack?’ and ‘Is Anti coming back next year?’ As always when the real world got to be overwhelming, Sean found solace in his online community. Maybe he had been playing a joke on them? Signe wasn’t going to question it, she had been very worried about him those few days. She was occupied now with filming and editing her own video, really happy about the positive feedback she was already getting online. This night she was curled up on the couch tapping away at her laptop, the slightly muffled sounds of Sean doing his outro coming from the recording room.

_Wiishu ran down the dark corridor, looking for a way out but it seemed she was trapped. There was a door, a green light glowing underneath it. She tapped it, and the access keypad appeared. Typing in the code quickly, her fingers glowing, the door opened and she slipped inside. She tried to suppress her own breathing as she heard the heavy footsteps grow near._

_“Wiishu? Come out please. Talk to us.” Anti’s voice crackled like static. “Jack say he’s sorry…he can’t be here right now. But you understand.”_

_Wiishu bit her lip hard, tears threatening her eyes._

_“Things to do, people to see…” Anti spied the light glowing under the door, “Places to go.” He banged his fist against the door and Wiishu screamed. “You can’t run away! I know your code! He…has it memorized.” Anti backed away. It was silent for a moment, and then Wiishu heard a different voice. Jack’s voice._

_“Wiishu? Why are you hiding? It’s me. Come on.”_

_Wiishu shut her eyes tight and tried to block out the voice. She knew it was just a trick. All the connectors in her quadrant had been shut down by Anti, she couldn’t call anyone for help. She glanced at the walls around her, hoping she could access another keypad, but the area was too small. “Oh god…Pixl please get here. I need your help.” The walls around her suddenly shook violently, and she tried not to scream. The glow beneath her feet grew brighter, flashing, buzzing, it was like she was standing on a field of static electricity. Don’t scream, she told herself. Don’t scream._

_The walls lit up with keypads overlapping other keypads, flashing numbers that all seemed to congregate around her like a cage._

_“Pixl! Help me!”_

Signe was jolted awake, looking around to reorient herself. It seemed she had fallen asleep on the couch, and the house was dark.  She got up and started to go to their bedroom, noticing the light still on under the door of the recording room.  She could hear Sean talking. Was he still filming?

Signe knocked.

“Yeah?” She heard him reply.

The door creaked open, “Hey Sean I’m going to bed, are you coming soon?” The room looked strange. The computer screen was solid white and he hadn’t turned around yet. “Are you recording?” She stepped further inside, “Sean?”

Before Signe could blink, he was out of the chair and had her against the wall, hands at her throat. She gasped, noticing the coal-blackness in his eyes.

She couldn’t make a noise, her blood was frozen inside her own veins.

Anti?  But how?

Signe screamed, nearly jumping out of the sheets. That had been a dream too? Was she even awake now? She smacked her face…yeah, awake. She glanced over to Sean sleeping beside her and burrowed back under the blankets, cuddling up close. Oddly she almost didn’t want to touch him, that wicked imagine of Anti still fresh in her mind.

She turned and looked back at the clock. 4AM.

She shut her eyes tight as she nosed up against the warm smell of Sean’s t-shirt.

“Mmm? Signe? You good?” Sean’s sleepy voice came through the dark.

“Yeah, no worries love.”

***

Signe was the one who found herself sleepy the next morning. Sean came bounding out for breakfast and she knew he would disappear to do his filming shortly. She could tell him about the dream, but who wanted to ruin waffles with talk of a fictional cyber-demon? Still, breakfast felt…off.

“Did you sleep okay? You were tossing and turning a lot.” Sean said.

“Yeah, I just woke up a few times. Weird dreams.” Signe played it off. 

“I know all about those. Last night I had a dream that…Robin was a cat and Mark and I had nets and were chasing him around like some castle. And I could fly…but only when I held my breath.” He laughed.

Signe forced out a chuckle.

No, his nightmares were over. She couldn’t bring this up to him again. Now she felt crazy. Anti wasn’t real, they were just dreams, and her imagination was getting the best of her.

“Lost in thought over there?” She heard Sean ask.

“Yeah...” Signe chuckled, “Ideas for video stuff. Thought I might film another today. I’m getting really good feedback. Everyone’s been so nice.”

“You have no idea how many messages I’ve gotten for you to be in a video with me.”

Signe shrugged, “What can I say?” She flipped her hair, “I’m popular.”

Sean stood, mockingly bowing to her, “All hail the new queen of YouTube.” He laughed, “I gonna go film.” He kissed her swiftly, “Bye.”

Signe watched Sean walk down the hallway and into the recording room, shutting the door behind him.  Once inside, he decided it was time to write a new message on the white board. He stepped back from it, thinking a moment, before…for whatever reason…he decided to write “Conquer Your Demons”.

“Top o’ the morning to ya laddies! My name is Jacksepticeye and welcome to another episode of Oxenfree! We’re really getting into the heart of it now….” Sean continued, his camera light blinking.

About 30 minutes in, he was deeply involved in the play through, when he was distracted by his camera light flashing.

“Low battery? No way, I know I charged it.” He swiveled in his chair, reaching over to check the camera. “It looks fine. That’s weird.” He put it back, “You’d better be recording.”

_“Miss me?”_

Anti’s face suddenly appeared on his screen and just as quickly it vanished. Sean didn’t yell, but more felt paralyzed.

“Nope…no, no, that wasn’t real. The game is kind of spooky, my imagination is just over involved.” Sean let out a deep breath. He continued his let’s play. “Ok, so we’re looking for another place to call the triangle ghosts…

“ _Are you scared yet?”_

Anti’s face appeared again, black ooze dripping down his face. Sean felt compelled to touch his own face just to make sure there was nothing on it. When he stopped, the game looked normal, cursor waiting for him to resume playing.

“ _Sean….ehehehe…”_

 “This is not happening. “ Sean said with determination, “I’m not going to be frightened away from my computer by a fucking virus.” Sean forgot all about own his camera, still filming, and closed out of the game. “I’ll just open it again from a direct source, that way nothing can transfer.”

He swore he could feel someone breathing down the back of his neck.

When he found the game again he navigated back to where he had left off, resuming the recording.

“Ok, so I just had to replay everything up until now because there’s something weird going on with the game on my end, I don’t know if you guys can see it. If it happens again…” he sighed, “Well…you won’t see this video until later.”

The static feedback of the game muffled out the static coming from his phone, and the cryptic numbers appearing on the screen went unnoticed…

***

_“They’re coming.” Wiishu typed in code after code as fast as her fingers could manage, “This is our only hope. If this works...” She looked over her shoulder, “I owe you so much Pixl.” The last sequence of numbers she had was entered and they began to stream all across the ways, it light up with a green colour so brightly it rivaled Jack’s hair. Wiishu stood in the middle of the square, and when the static started she spoke._

_“If anyone can hear me…please…anyone at all….if you can hear me please listen…”_

Signe’s phone began buzzing, over and over as if someone was bombarding her with texts. She grabbed it from the table and all across her screen there appeared a strange series of numbers.

“What is this?” She tried to end the message, swiping up, locking the screen, nothing seemed to work. The numbers flowed in in a seemingly random order, and as they kept coming her phone kept buzzing.  “Sean!” She called out. “My phone’s gone weird!”

Sean was stood in the doorway before she could call again, silent, stone-faced, mobile in his hand.

“Signe….why are you on my phone?”

He held the phone out to her, and she could see there was a video playing. It was dark, fuzzy, blinking strangely, and the girl on the screen appeared identical to her.

“You have to help us.” The girl in the video said. “Jack is gone. Anti’s taken over. By the time you see this he’ll have already found me. Some of them gave up. Others are still fighting back. We need your help. He’s dismantling everything Jack stood for. Our world is breaking. Please…we are a part of you. I…I don’t know your name but if you can hear me…if you are like Jack in any way I know you’d want to help. Use the codes. Protect them. Don’t let Anti win.

The screen went dark.

Sean’s phone rang.

“Ahhhh! Fuck!” He pressed the speaker button, “Damn it Robin now is not the time!”

“Did you guys just get a weird video of Signe but like…not Signe on your phone?”

“Robin!” Signe yelled, jumping up to join the conversation. “You got the video too?”

“Yeah.”  Robin answered.

“Can you figure out where it came from? Like who sent it? How?” Sean asked.

“I can try a few things.”

_Pixl tried to calm his breathing, watching the shadows go past. They didn’t notice him. He turned to Mark, who was adjusting the gun at his shoulder._

_“Let’s go.” Mark said._

_“What? No. We’re not ready. We need to wait.”_

_“They took Wiishu. We have to be ready. No one’s coming.”_

_“Mark!” Pixl called in a loud whisper, “Mark, wait!”_

_Pixl looked overhead. It was pitch black. There was one singular blinking light in the distance, where the tallest tower was. The circuit boards below had already been shut off. Normally they would be buzzing. Anti made them dark. Everything would be dark soon if they didn’t stop him._

_***_

Sean and Signe were huddled around his laptop, Skype open and Robin on screen tap-tapping away. His brow furrowed…he looked confused.

“Robin? You got something?” Sean asked.

“This doesn’t make sense.” Robin said, “If I track the IP address on the video, it says it came from you. This is your computer.”

“What does that mean?” Signe asked, “A hacker maybe?” She knew what was right at the front of her mind, and she glanced between Sean and Robin she wanted to say it, but dare not cause such an upheaval. She wondered if Robin was thinking it too.

“Jack, I hate to re-open a locked door but…”

Signe gripped at his shoulder.

“What if this is Anti?”

“Are you fucking serious? I nearly had a mental break two months ago due to vivid hallucinations and now you’re going to tell me that the subject of my hallucinations has hacked into my computer?” Jack spoke harshly, his voice hinged as he glared at Robin through the screen. “Are you guys playing some sort of prank on me?”

“No Sean…he’s telling the truth.” Signe said, “We’ve both seen him. I’ve had dreams…heard voices…all the same stuff that happened to you. I saw how it affected you.  I didn’t want that to happen again, so I didn’t tell you. I’m sorry.”

“We only did it because we care about you.” Robin said.

“You let me think I was crazy all this time?” Sean asked.

“No. We were looking out for you.  After he went away—“

“He didn’t go away! I see him everywhere! Every day!” Sean shouted, tears starting to stream down his face, “You two let me think I was alone, that I couldn’t tell anyone. I trust you guys more than anyone. How could you do this?”

Signe was silent, almost as if her voice had been stolen. Robin held his head down like a scolded puppy. Sean got out of his office chair forcefully, yanking off his headphones.

“Find out where it’s coming from. I want to know who did this.”

He slammed the door behind him.

***

_Wiishu’s wrists were bound tightly behind her back not with cord or rope, but almost as if the dark itself was holding her, her shirt torn at the sleeve and hair disheveled. She pulled at her invisible restraints, growling at the figure in front of her who dared to wear Jack’s face. Anti pulled his hood down, his left eye glistening like a sick malfunction. He reached out to stroke her face and she jerked away._

_“Pretty pretty Wiishu. You got left behind.”_

_“Fuck you.” She hissed._

_“Not a very nice way to talk to your boyfriend.”_

_“You’re not Jack.” She shook her head, “Don’t you dare think you could ever compare. Jack is ten times what you could ever be.”_

_It was quiet._

_“Wiishu? Why’re you sad?” Jack’s voice. He could turn it on and off like a sick joke. He could make his eyes go soft and smile Jack’s smile. But she couldn’t let herself be fooled. “Everything’s ok. Come on. It’s me.”_

_“Stop it.” She mumbled, eyes down._

_His face seemed to flicker, his eyes going pitch black at one moment. He grabbed at her face and she pulled away angrily._

_“Someone *will* stop you.”_

_He cackled, his laughter static-y and with shocks of noise like it was wet, “Who?! Your friends? The ones who abandoned you? Or the others ones? The ones who ran away! Do you really think there’s anyone left who cares that you’re here?”_

_Anti knelt down so he was eye to eye with her. Wiishu was terrified, gripping at her own hands, her breathing shuddered._

_“You know the codes.”_

_“I don’t.”_

_“What are they?”_

_“I don’t know!”_

_“Tell me!” He screamed at her. “You can’t save him, you never could save him. It’s your fault he’s gone. He knew the whole time this would happen but he pretended for you! So just give up….and tell me the fucking codes!”_

_Wiishu screamed as he grabbed at her._

_***_

“I feel weird.” Signe said, looking back to Robin on the Skype screen. “We should’ve told him.”

“We didn’t know.” Robin said. “And if I’m right, then what I’m about to tell you will be a hop, skip, and jump to everything being okay. “ He tapped away, eyes scanning the code of the video, looking for that one key item he needed. Was it here? “Yes! I got it! I’m sending you a link to yours and Jack’s phone.”

Signe’s phone beeped.

“If I’m right, this is a link to the original place the video came from. I thought it came from you, but that was a decoy. It was sent from some weird anonymous server, and from what little I know about this stuff, the original site should have an IP address logged and then we can find out the identity of the person who made it.”

“I should get Sean.”

“Already here.”

Signe turned around. Sean held his phone up, his face still slightly red, “Got your message.”

“I’m clicking on it too. That way we’ll all be looking at the same thing at the same time. Ready?”

“Yeah, go.” Sean said.

They all clicked on the link, screens going white and then slowly starting to load. They all waited on tenterhooks for something, an answer, a name. Sean’s hands were sweaty , cold when he felt Signe reach for him.

“Do you see anything yet?” Robin asked.

“No.” Signe said.

The screens went black, and still.

“I think you sent us to an empty space. There’s nothing—“

“AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!”

A loud wicked laughter erupted. Not from their screens but in their heads. All of them raising hands to cover their ears but it was to no avail, the noise came from inside. The room around them seemed to go fuzzy. Signe didn’t know when she stopped holding Sean’s hand.

“Robin turn it off! Disconnect it!” Sean yelled.

“It’s not me!”

It was like a vacuum, or falling down a hole he imagined. Sean felt like everything was getting very far away and it was dark for a long time, and then suddenly he was on the ground. It was cold.

“Sean? Sean!”

He opened his eyes.

Beneath his feet was an expansive city scape of skyscrapers and strange triangular building, they looked dark and almost like they were made of something reflective. The roads were dark but the lines not white like normal but blue, yellow, and red. It looked like something he had seen before.

“It’s a grid.”

“Sean.” Robin’s voice. He turned around. Robin and Signe were both there behind, stepped up to look over the edge.

“Where the hell are we?” Robin asked.

Far from that location, in a dark room, a bound Wiishu looked up, her eyes wet and dark. She didn’t know if the feeling that washed over her was fear or hope, or how blurred those two emotions would soon become.


	2. Sombre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Wiishu?” Sean reached his hand out to the stranger with his girlfriend’s face._
> 
> _“Anti’s coming. You can’t let him win.” Her expression turned into one of pain and panic, “Help me.”_
> 
> _Wiishu suddenly faded away, and Sean was stood in front of a mirror looking at his own reflection. He hardly had time to react when a hand shot out and reached inside his chest, coiling around the wires inside him. Anti’s dark eyes flashed, and a wicked grin spread across his face._  
> 
> _“Welcome home Jack.” Anti laughed, “Welcome home.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooo sorry this took so long. School, work, life, etc. I'll try my very best to get part 3 out faster. Hope you enjoy :))
> 
> *Italicized parts are either memories or internal thoughts/dreams. I hope that's been clear*

The cold puddles splashed against her feet as she ran up the street from the bus stop, hurrying home just in time to find the second JSE had been uploaded, and she could watch them both back to back. Her school bag was heavy on her shoulders, and as soon as she was in the front door, she dropped it with a huge clunk on to the tiled floor. There was no time to greet Mum or her sister, as she immediately pulled out her laptop and opened up youtube. 

There should have been two new videos. 

But there was nothing.

She scrolled through her subscriptions thinking maybe they were out of order, as Youtube sometimes did, and even went to Jack's page, but there was nothing since yesterday. This was unusual. No...this was unheard of. She quickly took to Tumblr and Twitter to see if anyone knew what was going on.

_No new JSE vids? What gives?_

_Is Jack okay?_

_Has anyone seen anything from Jack today? He never misses an upload!_

_What's happened? I'm kind of worried guys! #WheresJacksepticeye_

_I don't want to over-react but this is super weird!_

She added to the conversation. 

There was nothing from any of his social media accounts. Wiishu seemed to be gone too, she hadn't posted or liked anything in over 24 hours which was unusual. Everyone seemed to be turning to the popular JSE bloggers for advice and the blog owner suggested "under the circumstances" to maybe try and contact Robin or Felix and see if they knew where Jack was. Maybe it was some secret youtube thing. Maybe his internet was out. Maybe he was sick, or he'd just forgotten?

Something felt wrong to her. 

They'd made up reason after reason, but the truth was there was a wash of uneasiness over the internet. Nearly 15 million people were missing someone. 

She went back to his channel and clicked on a video from the previous day. Maybe he had mentioned this and she'd just not heard. Sometimes over all the shouting, she forgot the little messages and announcements he sometimes gave. The video screen began to glitch.

"That wasn't there before." she whispered to herself.

The screen went white all of a sudden and a high-pitched static noise burst through the speakers. She screamed and through off her headphones. But she could still hear the noise.

"WHERE'S JACK?!" an angry garbled voice shouted. "Gone. Dead. Out of his head. Ehehehehe!" The voice cackled, "What are you going to do?" Anti appeared on screen only for a moment, eyes black, and then flickered away.

When her sister came in she was on the floor, hands over her ears. It was like being on a plane. The sound around her was dull and muffled. She couldn't hear what her sister was saying, even as she yelled. The screen was black, but she swore Anti's face was still there.

*We don't know what's happened but it looks like someone hacked Jack's youtube channel. Don't go on the channel or watch any videos! Any could be infected! The virus attacks your system this way! Also major flashing lights warning! I heard one fan already had to be rushed to the ER because it triggered a seizure. Be careful guys! Let's just trust that Jack is fine and this is the reason he's been AWOL*

Though many would heed the warning, many would not. Friend and family members would find their loved-ones by their laptops with stone dead eyes, staring at nothing, or screaming, as they tried to push away an invisible figure. 

***

"Hurry up." Mark kicked at Pixl's feet, "We have to go. We're wasting time."

"I'm trying. Two seconds." Pixl said as Mark hovered over his shoulder, watching him type in the code for the door. Mark clutched at his weapon, keeping a close eye on their surroundings. The panel buzzed, then turned a dull grey color. It changed back to the original black when Pixl withdrew his hand from it. 

"I don't understand why it's not working." Pixl said.

"Try again!"

"Shhhh!" Pixl shushed him.

"I know. I'm just..." He sighed, "We have to find Cranky. If anything happens to that kid I'll never forgive myself." Mark was quiet. Pixl kept his eyes down, worried, it had been a long time since Anti had come and longer since they'd spoken to any of their friends. Wiishu had been the last they had contact with. 

"You're sure this is the right door?" Mark asked.

"Yes."

Pixl started typing the code again. The grid worked like this. There were certain sections that were closed off. Streets. Doors. Residence. You had to know the codes to type in to access these areas. Many codes were personalized, known only by individuals and their closest relations. There were rooms called "Fire Zones" which were very small sections of the grid, used only in emergencies in order to escape a possible threat. There were other areas of the grid that no one knew the codes for, that no one should, areas of the grid that if accessed incorrectly could cause the entire infrastructure to collapse. It would bleed out into the ether, and it could be disastrous for the online world. That's what it was here. A world. They existed, but only through the imagination and connection of millions and millions of people.

The panel buzzed grey again.

"Damn it!"

"Mark, calm down."

"If they find him before we do, I will shoot you with this thing myself."

"No you won't."

"How can you be so calm? He's got Wiishu. Jack is gone. Pewds and Marzia are..."

"I know!" Pixl looked to the floor, "I know. I just...I have to believe that everything will be fine because the second I stop believing...he'll get me too." He stood, smirking at Mark, "Jack always was the strongest of us. No offense."

Mark patted Pixl hard on the back, "Got it."

Pixl pressed the final key, and the door slid open, revealing the hidden path. 

"You know Pix, I never tell you how truly grateful I am for your company and expertise. And when this is all over, if we're not dead...I might tell you." Mark jokingly rambled on as they stepped through to the other passageway and let the door fade behind them. Anyone who hadn't seen them would be none the wiser.

***

_You all thought I was gone_

It was like his eyes suddenly came back into focus. The great height he was at suddenly registered to Sean, and he gasped, jumping back from the edge quickly and reaching to find Signe's hands. His heartbeat quickened. Below him was a great void of swirling noise, empty.

"You're ok. It's ok. "

He felt Signe grab his hand, fingertips grazing over his torso in a calming manner. He was standing on the edge of something that looked like it had sustained a storm of some sort, cracked and crumbling. The landscape they looked out on was very futuristic, but also very broken, like it had been abandoned and left to ruin by time. Parts were lit, other parts deathly dark. It was dark overhead too, but it didn't look like sky, it just looked empty.

"Good?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Just caught me off guard." He peered over the edge again, "Holy fuck. Robin, what did you do?" Sean asked. 

"Look, I know I said I could try and fix the problem, but this is so far from what I had in mind."

Signe looked around, the breeze cold through her hair. It was an eerie silent wind, "How did we get here?" She asked. 

"Maybe we're not here. Maybe we're all dead in my office." Sean remarked sarcastically...but also questioning this himself.

"Should we look around?" Robin suggested. 

Signe gripped Sean's hand tightly. The atmosphere felt strange. Almost like that tingling feeling when your foot falls asleep. It buzzed. It was quiet around them, but the noise in Sean's head had gotten even louder. Like his brain was a frickin' homing beacon. He felt it as soon as they got here. 

"You okay? I didn't break you or anything did I?" Robin asked, noticing Sean's unusually quiet demeanor.

"No. I'm good. I mean...I'm a bit..." he searched for the right word, "Shook. Although I hate to use that expression I think it's appropriate right now. I'm just afraid that any second I'm going to wake up in a mental hospital."

Robin shuddered, "I know you're joking, but that's my actual worst nightmare, so please be joking." 

"Guess we go down." Signe said, "Looks like there's stairs here." She pryed the door open. It was heavy, made of some strange material that looked like stone but felt, like metal. The stairway looked treacherous, cracked, pieces missing, gaps they would have to jump over, and no guard rail.

'Oh we're gonna die." Robin muttered.

"Nah, no we got this." Sean said, trying to convince himself. "I've spent the past 4 years of my life professionally playing video games. I'm just going to think of that as training. I mean..." He stared down into the dark path, "It kind of looks like the setting of The Last Guardian." 

"Yeah well I don't think a giant turkey bird is going to save us if we start to plummet to our death, so let's be careful." Robin said. He and Sean stood at the doorway. "After you?"

Sean stared down the swirling staircase, leading down into even more darkness. There was light and a way out somewhere, but he didn't know where that somewhere was or if it was any closer to getting them back home. He gulped, looking back at his friends, knowing they were trusting him and thought him capable, though he didn't feel very capable right now. 

There was also the whispering he was trying to ignore.

"Ready?" Signe said, stepping up to grasp his hand.

"Let's go."

As they followed each other through the heavy door, the scenery behind them flickered like a malfunctioning screen. Anti appeared, glitching the area around him, touching and not touching the building at the same time. His face was hidden in the shadows, his right eye a piercing green like a neon light, the left one only a tiny red glimmer, dark, blank, oozing a strange black liquid. "They've come. But for who? For you, Jack? They think they can save you. They can't even save themselves." He smirked, "They have no idea how my game is played. And I'm always the winner." 

Anti's face flickered again, and there was Jack again, scared, confused. 

"Where are we? What's happening?"

_"Your friends have come Jack. Shame you missed them."_

"You're a fucking bastard! Anti I swear to God!"

_"What God? There is no God. There's only me."_

"If you hurt Wiishu..."

_"Don't you mean...if *we* hurt Wiishu?"_

Jack could feel Anti pulling him down again, down into that dark place where he could shout and shout but no one heard. He could watch them all as if from a far distance, but they would never find him.

"Anti! No!"

"Ehehehehehe!" Anti cackled as he resumed his control, "I don't know how you managed to keep me in check all those years before. Being out here is so easy. But being out there...will be so much better."

***

"We've gone too far Mark." Pixl said, looking around at the empty road, trash collecting on the streets. "If he was here, he's long gone by now."

"I want to be sure." Mark said, "I don't want him to think I..." He hesitated, "I should've gone back for him at the start. I knew what was happening. That kid was my responsibility."

"None of us could've known this would happen. It's Jack...you know?"

"It's not Jack. It was never Jack, and I never betrayed him ok? It was Anti. He did this."

"Mark..."

"No, no, listen to me. You need to know this. You weren't there ok. Jack was gone. Pewds and I were the only ones there and we had to make a decision. Pewds...he made his call. Always was a kiss-ass."

"Is that it?"

"When the grid started breaking everyone left. And I lost Cranky. I left him alone."

Pixl looked around at the depressing scenery. If Cranky was still here, he had no idea where he could be hiding. There was no place a person could survive around here. This section had almost been completely closed off from the rest of the grid. 

“Mark?”

_“Mark!” Cranky looked around, the collapse of the grid was shaking the formations around them, and everyone was scattering. Cranky had lost his friends in the crowd somewhere, their faint voices seemed to come from all directions._

__

__

_“Don’t leave me here! Guys!”_

“This place is empty.” Pixl said, looking sad. Mark clutched at the weapon on his belt, his fingers loosening and relaxing at his side. 

_Cranky pushed back through the people all screaming and running, going the opposite direction because if he left this quadrant without them it was likely he’d never find them again. The cyberworld was as massive as space. If you got lost...you were gone in a blip._

__

__

Everyone was rushing past him so quickly, recognizing Mark and Pewds in the mass was next to impossible. He saw a gap between the wall where no one was, and thought it a safe place to wait out and get a better vantage point, so he hurried over. He pulled the hood of his cloak up, masking his bright blue hair. It was a decision, he’d come to regret.

“I know he got left behind. I saw him ahead of me in the crowd, but I couldn’t reach him there were too many people. I looked away just once, once I swear! And when I looked back he was gone.”

_“Mark?” Cranky’s face lit up when he caught a glimpse of his friend and he began waving his arms, “Mark! Mark look! I’m here!” But Mark didn’t look, Mark kept walking. “He can’t hear me. Damn it.” He tried to push back to rejoin the crowd, but it was overflowing by now, there wasn’t even a gap. Cranky shouted with all his might, “Mark!!!! I’m here!!”_

__

__

__

__

_The section he had taken refuge in began to close. A safety precaution in case of an emergency, a code could easily get him out, but this wasn’t his home quadrant. He didn’t know the code. The walls were closing._

_“Wait….no, no, no, Mark! Please! Turn around!!!!”_

_Mark looked back. He could barely hear, but Cranky’s voice caught just on the edge of the sound he was getting. He looked around for the head of bright blue hair, but saw nothing._

_The walls closed for safety. It was supposed to protect them. But it had become his death sentence._

“What happened afterward?” Pixl asked

“Nothing.” Mark said, “I mean...I left. I never found him. I don’t know what happened.” Mark looked around at his desolate surroundings, “He’s not here though, I know that.” He let out the breath he was holding, “We should go.” 

Pixl strode alongside his friend, back through the corridor they entered through, away from the eerie silence that now enveloped the area. If only they had known they were feet away from the wall, where Cranky still sat on the other side, now only a flicker in this world. He tried to call out, but there was only static.

* * *  


Wiishu found that if she kept quiet and pretend to be unconscious, they let her be. She would hear the heavy door open several times over the course of the day, though she had no sense of the hours. She could only guess at many days she had been here. Two? Three? Closer to seven or eight? She wasn’t sure how many people were here, she would hear them walking around, but the footsteps blended together and it got difficult to distinguish the noise. Though Anti’s steps she knew. He walked soft, almost like he was floating. It was different to Jack, who always had a flair to his step, not clunky but quick. Anti had strides like he didn’t know he existed in a physical form. 

“Where is she?!” Anti’s shouted, “Bring her to me right now!”

The next thing she knew, Wiishu was being unbound and dragged out of the room, she put up no struggle, continuing her facade of unconsciousness. She felt the temperature change.

When she was before him he struck her across the face and she gasped. 

“Give me the codes.”

“I don’t have them.”

“LIAR!” His hand snatched out to her throat, and he grabbed, pulling her up so she was standing in front of him, her feet dangling as he left her the few inches between them to meet his gaze. She whimpered, trying to hide her fear. “Stop lying! You know...I know you know because I saw them. You...and the one who looks like Jack. He thinks he is Jack.” Anti chuckled as he watched Wiishu’s body shiver. 

They had made it then? Wiishu knew bringing them here was a huge risk, she didn’t even know if it was entirely possible or how long they could exist in this realm, but now she had an advantage and she couldn’t let Anti gain the upper hand back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not a hacker or a coder, I never was.” She struggled, her eyes falling on Pewds, “He’s the person you should be asking.” She looked to the person who was once her friend, “Pewds used to code all the time. Knew the pattern of the entire eastern grid once. “

Pewds frowned, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“Come on, you must remember. You were the one who showed Mark that hiding place in the fourth sector...you found the windows to the Ethernet...you reprogrammed Pixl’s transmitter.” Wiishu looked over at Anti, who was watching Pewds intensely. She was somewhere between trying to distract Anti and trying to jog Pewds’ memory, hoping her friend was still reachable. “He can’t control you if you don’t let him Pewds...please.”

Pewds was inches from her face, his normally blue-eyes a deep red. 

“I’m not your friend…anymore.” 

Anti let go, watching Wiishu collapse to the floor, legs buckling underneath her. When she looked up at her captors, they all scowled back at her with coldness in their eyes. When she looked at Anti, for a moment, she thought she saw Jack’s face flicker in a moment of concern.

“Go.” Anti directed to Pewds and Marzia, who turned a cold shoulder to Wiishu. She watched helplessly as they left her there in the dark once again.

* * * * 

_“Sean? Where are you?”_

__

__

_“I’m right here!”_

_He could hear Signe’s voice, but all he could see was black._

_“Signe? Come towards me.”_

_“I’m right next to you.” he heard her say._

_He turned around, gasping when he found her behind him. But it wasn’t Signe...no...just someone who looked like her._

_“Jack?” The girl said, “Are you there? Can you hear me?”_

_“Wiishu?” Sean reached his hand out to the stranger with his girlfriend’s face._

_“Anti’s coming. You can’t let him win.” Her expression turned into one of pain and panic, “Help me.”_

_Wiishu suddenly faded away, and Sean was stood in front of a mirror looking at his own reflection. He hardly had time to react when a hand shot out and reached inside his chest, coiling around the wires inside him. Anti’s dark eyes flashed, and a wicked grin spread across his face._

_“Welcome home Jack.” Anti laughed, “Welcome home.”_

He gasped as he woke from the nightmare, waking to an eerie calm. Signe and Robin were still asleep nearby, the three of them taken shelter just inside another empty building. He didn’t know exactly what they were taking shelter from. There didn’t seem to be any weather here, and they hadn’t seen any forms of life yet. He just kept hearing voices over this dull roaring noise. He stood, walking to the window. It was hard to imagine this was ever a place anyone lived...existed? Where had they all gone? What would happen to them if they couldn’t get home, or if they couldn’t help?

“I can see you thinking.” 

Sean looked over at Signe, sat up now, watching him. She yawned and stretched, and he noticed her sweater was getting dusty. 

“I haven’t felt hungry since we came here. Have you noticed that?”

“Now that you mention it...yeah.” Sean replied. Food didn’t seem to exist in this world, nor did it seem necessary. Sleep didn’t entirely feel necessary either as there was no sun, no moon, no passing of time really. It was possible that days didn’t exist either. 

“Have you heard him anymore?”

“No. But I keep hearing someone else.”

“Who?”

He looked over at her, pausing for a moment, studying her face like it was the first time he had seen it, “You.”

***

Mark and Pixl had been walking for what would have been hours. They had made their way almost completely to the opposite end of the quadrant, and they hadn’t found a damn thing. Pixl knew Mark was frustrated. Had they wasted all these moments? Why had Wiishu left that particular code? There must have been a reason. She wouldn’t send them anywhere without a reason. She was such an asset to their group. She kept her composure long after Jack had gone, longer than Pixl imagined she could. Now, he was here in a place she felt important, and fuck he wasn’t going to leave any corner untouched until he found the reason.

Mark’s hand shot out in front of him, and he stopped short.

“What?”

“Shhh! There’s someone up ahead.”

“Hmm? No, there can’t be. There’s no way in.” 

“Someone left behind then.” Mark stated.

“There’s no way. It’s dead here. The whole quadrant is off. You’re probably delirious and imagining things.”

“I saw someone.” 

Pixl’s face turned serious, “Anti?”

“Or his new friends. Don’t know how the motherfuckers got out here, but I’m sending them back where they came from.”

“Mark...what if it’s...I mean...if it’s Pewds and Marzia...”

“It’s not the Pewds and Marzia I know.” 

Mark branded his weapon in his hand, signaling to Pixl to keep quiet, and they started forward again. 

It was only about 50 feet before they really got into view of the figures Mark had seen before, and he could see now there were three of them. One standing and two sitting. They all looked familiar but in this dim lighting it was hard to see their faces, and even if he could it would still be hard to trust their faces. Pixl kept hard to his back, though not near the fighter Mark was, he was quick of mind and knew secrets of the quadrants and the walls much like Wiishu and always came through when he was needed.

“Ready your hand.” Mark said in a low voice.

“Wait...wait...I don’t think they’re with Anti.”

“They have to be! How else would they be here?”

“That looks like Jack.”

“Jack is gone.”

“And the other one...is...it’s...it’s me!” Pixl shot a hand up to his mouth quickly, as he had yelped the end of his sentence louder than he meant too. But the realization caught him so off guard. Indeed, the man standing bore his same sandy colored hair, fair skin, and green eyes. Of course Pixl knew his own face. But how? Who? Were they friends?

“Quiet! You idiot! You nearly announced our arrival!” Mark yelled but still kept a soft voice which sounded a bit strange.

“I was just...I’m so...what does it mean?”

It was quiet. Too quiet. Mark motioned Pixl to follow him and they crept up closer and closer on the unsuspecting figures. Mark only meant to peer in, just to get a look at them, but Signe looked up when he was there and she jumped, caught off guard by seeing a familiar face. 

“Wiishu?” 

He knew somehow it wasn’t her, but he hadn’t seen any of his friends in so long that he forgot himself for a moment, heart clenched. Pixl’s hands were holding him back but he just pushed them away, rushing the remaining distance to where she stood. It was seconds, Signe had no time to move or react before Mark was standing just a few feet in front of her.

“Mark? I don’t understand, how are you here?”

“Is it you? Wiishu?”

“Wiishu? What?” Signe looked over the man who resembled her friend. His face and voice were the same, but he wore something that looked like a some kind of military uniform crossed with armor. There were emblems on the shoulders, a chest plate of sorts, and looser fabric hung down below the chest plate creating some kind of tunic appearance over the trousers. It was torn around the edges, the chest plate looked to have some dents in it too. And his face, yes it was Mark’s face, but his expression was older, tired, sad, not at all the Mark she knew. 

Sean and Robin were sleeping nearby, she started to call out to them when he spoke again.

“When I heard Anti had you, I thought everything was lost.”

She froze.

“How could Pixl and I do anything ourselves? You were our last hope. We used the codes you left and they led us here, but we didn’t know why or what we were looking for. Then here you are. Wow.”

“Mark, no, I’m not...” she held her hands up, really hoping Sean would wake up right about now. “I’m Signe, I’m not Wiishu. I mean...technically I am Wiishu but not the Wiishu you’re looking for.”

“You know me.”

“You look like a friend of mine.” She didn’t know if she should panic...it was technically Mark. He didn’t seem like he intended to harm her. Quite the opposite. He thought she was someone else, the girl from the video.

“Do you know where she is? Wiishu I mean. Do you know where to find her?” Signe asked, “I think we’re supposed to find her.”

Mark stopped, bowing his head. 

“It’s true then, you’re not Wiishu.”  


“I’m not.” Signe said.

“Somehow I knew and yet...I still hoped. But if you’re not Wiishu, who are you? How did you get here?” Mark asked, eyebrows cocked inquisitively as he strode the few steps closer to her, “This quadrant has been locked for a long time. No one could access it unless they had…”

“A code?” came Robin’s voice, “Like this one?” Robin held up his phone, open to the link in his browser that he thought had been an IP address.

Mark looked up, shocked once again to see the spitting image of Pixl standing there. And even more shocked and shaken to see Sean, with the hurt of Jack and Anti ever fresh in his mind. Pixl came over as soon he could get his feet working, nearly crashing into Mark when he got there. The group stood awkward and quiet around the small broken room. Signe joined next to Sean, reaching for his hand.

“This is gonna be the weirdest conversation.” Sean said. 

***

“How in the world did you get this?” Pixl asked, studying Robin’s phone with the code displayed onscreen, “It’s amazing. I had no idea Wiishu knew how to contact people outside the grid.”

“That must’ve been what she was talking about...the thing she didn’t want to tell us.” Mark said, “Wanted to keep us out of danger.” He sighed, “So much for that.” He walked back and forth, eyeing their newfound companions. He was terribly suspicious of all of them, particularly Sean. He felt a softness toward Signe, giving that she was the spitting image of Wiishu. And Robin was just another Pixl, well-meaning, handy in a crisis, trustworthy. But Sean looked like Jack. He was Jack. Which meant he was also Anti. Which meant…

“Have you seen him?” Mark asked, grabbing Sean quickly by his shirt collar and startling him a bit. 

“What? Who?” Sean tried to push Mark’s hands off of him.

“Anti. Since you got here, have you seen him?”

“No.” Sean took a deep breath, contemplating his next sentence, “But I...uh...” Oh god was he going to do this again? “I’ve heard him though.”

Mark let go, “You’ve heard him?”

“Sean.” Signe spoke, “Were you lying to us again?”

“I really don’t think now is the time Signe.” Sean replied, “Yes. I was. Ok? I didn’t know where we were. I didn’t want to put you guys in danger. It’s only happened a few times and it’s not very loud, I can mostly ignore him so it didn’t seem like a big deal.”

“Anti’s the whole reason we’re here!” Signe cried. “Stop trying to save everyone Sean, let people fucking help you for once.”

Mark chuckled, almost smiled, “That’s definitely Jack. Sticking up for everyone else. That’s why he...” Mark sighed, “When it happened...when Anti came...Jack knew long before the rest of us. He tried to get us to leave. Anything he could think of to send us away. But he never told us what was wrong. He was so stupid! There was an error code one day that Pixl had to track, Pewds went too that day...and when we came back Wiishu was in the house. He’d left her alone but all the code panels were broken. She was trapped inside. Luckily Pewds knew an override so we were able to get back in. The mirror was broken...and the static was dark...and Jack was gone.”

“But why?” Sean asked, “From what you’ve said you guys have been here for ages and it’s never happened before. Why now?”

“Because of you.” Pixl said. “You unlocked him. Gave him energy. Made people...” He cringed at his next words, “Like him. Anti thrives off that.”

“But I didn’t create him.” Sean defended, “The community did that. They were creating Anti headcanon’s long before Robin and I ever touched him.”

“I don’t know how it works out there. But in here, you exist until you don’t. Until someone stops speaking of you, doesn’t remember your name...or...until you glitch out. Some say you get trapped in the dark place. I don’t know what that means exactly, and I hope I never do. But when you...when Jack let Anti take over for those few moments, Anti realized what he could do.”

“But what does he want?” Robin asked.

 

“He wants madness.” Mark continued, “Chaos. Discord. If Anti gets access to this area, that means he can get to the North tower and he can wire himself into the internet and he could basically destroy the way your world functions. Not only that, but you humans are so used to running on low-frequency sound and image waves that you don’t even notice them anymore. Anti controls those, he could turn anyone into one of his drones. He’s already done it here. Not that certain parties weren’t unwilling.”

“You don’t think Wiishu’s been...”

“No. She’s good. I trust her.” 

“We trusted Pewds and Marzia too.” Pixl reminded him.

Sean and Signe were quiet at the mention of their friends, not sure if they should touch on such unsteady ground.

“You three need to find a way to get back. This isn’t your fight.” Mark stated.

“I’m not leaving.” Sean said. “Let me help please. I feel like I’m responsible.”

Mark shook his head, “There’s the Jack in you. A stubborn asshole.”

“So then you know I won’t take no for an answer.” Sean said.

Mark hated to admit he was right.

***

Sean, Signe, and Robin were still mostly operating as outsiders, so when they declared it ‘late’ and said they were ‘tired’ , Mark and Pixl didn’t really understand but went along with it anyway. Robin explained it as sort of recharging, a term that seemed to make more to them. The boys slept easily, Pixl continued to toy with Robin’s phone, and Mark seemed to be drawing out some sort of map on the grid. Signe noticed and went over and sat near him.

“Can I…?” She started.

“Oh, yes of course, sit down.” Mark gestured next to himself, “I’m just trying to make use of our time.”

“It’s a map.” She stated.

He nodded, “You see, we’re here and we need to double back and go all the way over to here...” he drew another large X, “And shut down this grid and then I think we can get to Wiishu and once we have her well….” He sighed, “I have no idea what happens after that. But I know that we can’t get to Anti if he has her, Jack would give up before letting anything happen to her.”

“She’s important to him?” Signe asked.

Mark smiled, “You would know.”

Signe bashfully glanced away.

“I still don’t understand how this happened. Where did everyone go? How are you and Pixl still here? What about your...others?”

“You know about them?” Mark seem surprised, “Ugh...well um...they sort of got glitched out one by one. Anti’s not really one for sharing the spotlight shall we say. I managed to get away with Pixl, Wiishu, and Cr...um...yeah the three of us, we got out.” 

“So where are they? In the dark place?”

He shrugged, “Must be. They say when you go there, you don’t come back.”

Signe was quiet for longer before speaking again, “Is that where Jack is?”

“No! No...he’s not in the dark place. He’s with Anti.” 

“You said he was gone.”

“Well I meant it differently like...” He could see Signe getting concerned. “Like he and Anti are part of the same person but Jack’s always been the dominate personality. He has so much vibrancy, it kept Anti in check. But then something changed. I don’t know what exactly. Maybe Jack had doubts, maybe Anti realized all the damage he could do. They’re part of each other. We can’t glitch Anti. If we do that, we glitch Jack too. That’s what makes this so hard. If it was as easy as glitching Anti I’d be at the tower smashing buttons left and right trying to figure it out. It’s delicate. And Jack would fucking walk overboard for us. For all of them. So, I owe it to him.”

“Them?” Signe asked.

Mark glanced over at her, looking almost amused, “You haven’t noticed since you got here?” He asked. “Look up.”

Signe was confused, but followed along, tilting her head back to gaze up expecting an endless black abyss, but instead what she saw was what appeared to be thousands and thousands of stars. She gasped, amazed at the beautiful sight. There was so many. Some were different colors, red, blue, green, purple. Some were still, while others seemed to move. Some clustered together to make larger ones. It was like the northern lights and a laser light show and a kaleidoscope all at once. 

“How do you have stars here? That’s amazing!”

“They’re not stars.” Mark said, “They’re people.”

“People?”

“Yeah. We live in a computerized world remember? We’re a product of not only you guys, but everyone else as well. Anyone who has a presence online, they’re up there. The light collects from them being here. You can see it move when people get excited, or fade when they get scared. I can’t tell you how many nights I’ve sat and looked up at them and kept going because...” He pointed upward, “Somebody somewhere cares about me. I may not know their name, but they know mine. And as long as those lights are up there, I’ll be down here trying.”

There was a sound behind them and they both looked back. Sean was there standing in the doorway. “Signe, what are you doing?”

Signe was quiet for a moment. She had never imagined something like this. It was so bizarre and ridiculous and beautiful.

“I made a decision. I agree with Sean. We’re not leaving.” She said, turning back to Mark. “Not until you have Jack back. Until we all do.”

***

Pewds stumbled, backing away while Anti still slowly approached him. Marzia fearfully stood and watched, but kept silent. 

“No, I’m sorry I’m sorry, Anti. I didn’t think...”

“You didn’t think?” Anti said, “Don’t lie to me!” Anti tugged at his own hair, “Thinking is exactly what you do. You *think* you can do better than me. I know the inside of your mind! You were the one who gave up! You came to me! You stood by and watched as I erased your friend. You’re a traitor. Let me get inside your head because you thought it would protect you.” He advanced.

It was strange when Jack had moments like these. Usually he was in total dark and silence. But sometimes it was like he was just inside a locked room with a window, and he could still hear and see everything going on around him. Most of the time it was too horrible, so he shut it out. But he couldn’t shut out his friend. Pewds was a good guy deep down. Made some dumb decisions yeah, but he didn’t deserve this. 

_“They need my help. This has to stop.”_

He slammed his fists against his mental prison walls.

_“ANTI!!!”_

Anti grinned as he heard Jack’s voice inside, shouting for his resistance. In front of him Pewds still on the ground, and Marzia kept quiet in the background, watching out of her peripherals. 

“Game on.” Anti clenched his fist shut tightly, almost as if he was pulling at the very air around him. Pewds was jerked upwards by this motion, hanging in the air, grasping for footing. Anti pushed him away with an open palm, and though on the outside his injuries were unseen, on the inside he felt like his body was suddenly being electrocuted, snapping, breaking. Pewds was gasping for breath. Is this what glitching felt like? He wondered. He’d rather just die quickly.

_“Anti!!! Let him go!!” He slammed against the wall again, climbing and clawing, trying to pull himself up._

“Or what Jack? What could you possibly do….to me?” Anti cackled.

Jack caught his breath, wincing when he heard another shout from Pewds and saw the grid around him start to kick up a swirling black cloud. The glitch. He had to act fast, before he was gone. Anti was right...there was nothing Jack could do to him. But Jack could do something to himself.

He stood up, closed his eyes, tried to wire himself in with Anti’s voice. He had almost done it once before...if he could just concentrate.

_“That’ll never work.” Jack said, laughing as his friends ran around him._

__

__

_“It will work.” Pewds said. “We’ve been practicing trust me. I’ll stand on this square, you stand on that one.”_

_Jack shook his head laughing as he took his place, open to indulging Pewds with his strange ideas. Mark, Wiishu, and Marzia watched from the sidelines._

_“You’re crazy!” Marzia yelled._

_“Just wait...it’ll work.” Pewds directed. “On 3. 1...2...3!”_

_Jack and Pewds both leapt off their squares in the opposite direction and were pulled back by some invisible force, which sent them flying backwards almost like a slingshot, before spinning them around in mid-air and landing as gracefully as one could. Jack tried to keep his balance while Pewds stumbled to the floor._

_“It’s like we’re flying!”_

_Jack laughed, “That’s amazing. How did you figure that out?”_

_“I noticed it when I was charting with Pixl the other day. Certain grids are just reflections of each other, I noticed this one happened to be a transport grid, so I thought it might work.”_

_“You realize we’ve could’ve been slung all the way through to the south quadrant?”_

_“Yeah but...” Pewds shrugged, “That’s part of the fun right?”_

“That’s it.” 

Jack went and stood center, stood where he felt Anti the strongest, and closed his eyes, “On the count of 3. 1...2...3” Jack lunged off in the opposite direction.

Anti was pulled from his standing place and flung across the room, slamming into a wall. Jack felt the jolt as well, standing to shake the feeling off. Pewds crashed to the floor beneath him, passing through the glitch. He stood slowly, looking around at his surroundings. 

“What?” His voice sounded different, “Where the hell am I? Jack?”

“You have to run.” Jack spoke in Anti’s voice, trying to push through.

“Jack? Marzia? What’s happening?”

“I don’t have time to explain… just run.” Jack saw the edge of the light, and grabbed it, pulling himself out of the dark place, “RUN!!!” 

Pewds didn’t wait any longer, and though it pained him to go without Marzia, he was more help to her alive than if he got himself killed right now. He turned and ran down the long dark corridor, not noticing Wiishu, who’s bonds had also been released when Jack was able to overpower Anti. She watched Pewds run past her, keeping to the dark corner. Though she was free, she was weak, and she knew she wouldn’t make it far.

***

It had lasted only a moment. It was dark again. But he couldn’t see Anti. Where had he…?

Jack was suddenly knocked back with a forceful blow.

“YOU THINK YOU CAN DEFEAT ME THAT EASILY? DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND? I LIVE IN YOUR BLOOD. UNLESS YOU DIE...I’LL BE HERE...FOREVER!”

Anti stood, wiping dripping back ooze from his mouth, his eyes gone pitch dark. 

“I won’t let you...hurt...Wiishu.” Jack said, struggling to get to his feet. “Please, she has nothing to do with this. They have nothing to do with this.” Jack pleaded. 

“But don’t you see Jack? They have everything to do with this.”

The fans would find a new Jacksepticeye video uploaded that day. Seemingly normal as ever. A bright eyed Jack doing his high-five and intro with vigor and energy as always.

“TOP OF THE MORNING TO YA LADDIES! MY NAME IS….”

He stopped...staring straight at the camera. His eyes flickered, turned black for the quickest second, and an eerie whistle glitched across the screen.

“Jacksepticeye.”


	3. Presage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “ANTI! STOP!”
> 
> Jack shouted, his voice echoing back at him from inside his own head. It went out into a darkness, and faded away. Anti smirked, having only faintly heard his host shouting, but feeling his pain intensely.
> 
> “You see Wiishu, I don’t think you’ve been telling the truth. I think you know…exactly...” he struck her a third time, “What the codes I need are. And I know...” a fourth, “You’ve given off the rest to your little ragtag crew. Wiishu in danger? They’ll all come running now.”
> 
> Sean could feel it too. The chaos in Jack’s head, the fear, the sadness. He was trying to talk to him but it seemed there was no reaching Jack now. Sean could only hope they wouldn’t be too late.
> 
> “You may as well just fucking glitch me! I’m not telling you anything! No one will! This world isn’t yours Anti!”
> 
> “Maybe not...but it will be. Just like theirs.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this chapter took so long. I gave myself a deadline for the next chapter so it shouldn't take as long. Please leave a review it means a lot to me :))

Felix looked up suddenly from his laptop, his expression startled, glancing uneasily around the room. 

“You okay?” Marzia asked.

“Um...yeah. I just got the weirdest feeling.”

His phone was next to him on the table, and he couldn’t shake the thought that he needed to call Sean.

* * *

_“Sean! Sean!”_

_He heard someone shouting his name, a very familiar voice. Not Anti, this one was kinder._

__

__

_A figure stepped into view from the dark, and Sean found himself face to face with…_

_“Jack?”_

__

__

_Jack panted, his face bruise and bloody, “I don’t have much time.” He grabbed Sean’s shirt, pulling him close. “Listen, I’m long gone, it’s too late, but you have to save Wiishu. Promise me. Please.”_

_“How? Me? Against Anti? I can’t. I need you.”_

__

__

_Jack shook his head, “I wish I could my friend. I’m afraid Anti’s beaten another one of us.”_

_“Bullshit.” Sean said, “I know you. I am you. And I say fuck Anti and fuck this stupid rescue plan of yours, we’re coming for the both of you.”_

__

__

_Jack looked down at his hands, “I fear the worst.” He looked back up at Sean, “I can feel a flicker where my heart used to be.”_

Sean woke with a start and took survey of his surroundings. 

They had all slept for some odd hours, even Pixl though he didn’t really need to sleep. Mark stayed awake the longest, feeling as if he had to be the lookout, though around them it was still and quiet. More quiet than he remembered it being recently. Sean walked over to join Mark, who was stood looking out across the grid, the North Tower looming in the background. 

“Is it far?” Sean asked, speaking up, “It looks far. But then...I guess distance works differently here.” 

“It’s two quadrants over. One of them is actually still populated. So it’ll take us a bit longer because we can’t go through, we have to find another path. The residents completely changed their code, no one outside can access it. Normally that wouldn’t happen, it couldn’t because all of the codes are controlled and changed at the towers. But they were a south quadrant, and when the tower broke, I guess they found a loophole.” Mark explained.

“Hmm...wait, so, I’m confused. I thought all the south quadrants were accessible?” 

“Except that one. But it’s not divided up in a way that makes sense. Where we are right now is designated as a north quadrant, even though the South Tower is closer. I’m sure there’s a reason...but I don’t know what it is. Pewds would know. He’s...he was...good at that kind of thing.” Mark was silent and registered Sean’s perplexed expression, “It’s never something I’ve had to question.”

Pixl, Robin, and Signe all joined them shortly after standing on respective sides and looking out across the vast dark open space. 

“I never knew so much was here.” Signe said. 

“Is it gone?” Robin asked, “I mean, will it be like it was before?”

“It can be.” Pixl said, “It’s all codes after all.”

“Don’t make it sound so easy. The towers will need repair. And as for defeating Anti, I think you’re using that word a bit extensively.” Mark said to Robin, “We can’t defeat Anti. There is no defeating him. I was explaining this to Signe before. Anti and Jack are the same person...you can’t have one without the other. So if we kill Anti…”

“We kill Jack.” Signe said. 

The group was silent, uncertain glances falling between both strangers and friends. 

“What are our options then?” Sean asked, feeling slightly nervous. 

“We need to rescue Wiishu. Get her out. We get her out, Anti has one less person to use as leverage, we raise our chances of getting Jack back.”

Pixl pulled out his transmitter, switching it on, “We have to cross a large section of the grid, a lot of it is open and unguarded now, so it might be dangerous. Especially with Anti turning everyone into his little glitch bitches but...this will help us. It can detect anyone’s binary code at 100 meters, so we’ll be able to easily identify who’s a friend and who’s an enemy.” He pointed the transmitter toward Sean, “That’s weird. You don’t register. I mean, I expected you wouldn’t but then there’s every chance.”

“How many people are we talking about here?” Robin asked.

“Only a few that we know of...but I wouldn’t put anything past Anti.”

“I would say we’re wasting time, but time doesn’t exist here, so….”

“Time or not...we’re getting our friend back. Both of them.” Mark said.

“All of them.” Sean added.

~ ~ ~ ~

Pewds didn’t remember the grid being so cold...nor so quiet. His last memory was being in a crowd with Marzia and Wiishu, right before the sky had trembled, trying to find Jack in all the commotion. They’d found him with his eyes black, and he’d sent the girls away. Then waking up on the floor of the tower was his next memory. And Marzia there? No...not Marzia...just a bot who looked like her. He felt overwhelmed suddenly. Were his friends all gone? Had he hurt them? 

“Marzia. I have to go back and get Marzia.”

He knew he would fail. Was there a point in trying?

Pewds was all brass and flash and show yes, that part of him wanted to run in with no plan of attack and try to save Marzia. But he was also very smart, he knew that would send them both to the dark place. He also knew the grid better than any of their friends. Of course that’s why Anti had wanted him. To use him as a fucking track dog. But nothing looked the same now. Doors were gone, keypads were broken, whole section were dark. It worked together, it was a system….he couldn’t even see the dividing wall anymore. And new quadrants seemed to have also appeared. Emergency sectors. No one would trust him now.

“Fuuuuuck!” He shouted to the empty.

When he stopped shouting, he let his ears just to this noise of nothing. Listening. 

There...somewhere in the distance...something was beeping. 

“Someone’s still here.” He started limping off in that direction, “Be ye friend or foe motherfucker...you’re about to get found.”

~ ~ ~ ~

As they were walking, Signe noticed parts of the grid would get darker out of her peripheral vision. But when she looked directly at them, they were lit up the same. Sean noticed her looking strangely and nudged her shoulder.

“Hey? You ok?”

“Yeah, all fine.”

“Sorry you got stuck in this.”

“You kidding? This is the best adventure we’ve ever had.”

“We might die.”

“Yeah but...cool way to die huh? Where did they die people will ask? Inside the internet.”

Sean giggled, “That makes it sound like we died while browsing the weird part of youtube.”

“Hey, they’ll never be evidence of it. We’ll die a mystery.”

“I can hear you two over there talking about death!” Robin piped up, “Knock it off!”

The couple laughed at Robin’s scowl, and also the ridiculous way he had draped a cloak around himself that Pixl had been carrying because although this place had no temperature, he claimed that he was cold. Sean’s mind suddenly went to his encounter with Jack, which had felt like some bizarre out of body experience. Jack looked exactly like him, his mirror copy, and yet there had been a sadness in his whole being that Sean didn’t recognize. It felt like he was giving up. Sean looked over to where Mark was leading the group and felt a pain for his friend, for himself, would they make it in time to help anyone? 

“You haven’t seen Anti again, have you?” Signe asked.

“Hmm, what?” Sean snapped back to the present, “No. Not since we got here.”

“You seem concerned.” 

“I was just thinking about something Mark said.” He shook his head, “It’s not important right now. Let’s walk faster, we’re falling behind.”

They watched as Pixl pulled out the transmitter and began scanning the area for doors and any hidden paths or people, the box emitting a slow beeping sound. The pulsar waves it sent out were like water crashing against the shore.

~ ~ ~ ~

Three days. Three days without a Jacksepticeye video. Without a tweet or any acknowledgment to his silence. Some of the fans had heard terrible rumors, others thought it was explainable, a family emergency or something must’ve happened. When a tweet finally went up, someone screen grabbed it and posted it to twitter immediately. It wasn’t exactly the message everyone had hoped to see.

.F̸̧̛̟͕̟̣̟̩͕̲̉̈͌͛̋̾̏͂ͅḭ̡͔̜̫͇̯͎̀̈́͂̉͌͋͘͞͡n̵̡̞̥͖͉̳͕͙̈́̓̍̎̈͞ḍ̨̠͖̝̪̖̬͒̾̇̂̓̃̏͌ h̵̨̜̭̠̮́̔̓̌͘̚ͅị̡̛̦̼̱̣͆̏̄͐͐̕͟͜͠͡m̵̡̛̬̭̥̺̤̆̑̂̃͒͡

_He’s trying to scare us! He’s planning another Anti video._

__

__

Where has been for the last 3 days?

It’s just a game! Ha ha Jack, very funny!

Something weird is going on you guys I don’t like this.

About an hour later, one more tweet was posted.

J̡̢̺͙̟̠̪̬̣̜͊́͊̉̔̃̇͞a̵̢̛͚̺̺̫̬̩̱̾̈́̌̊̉͜͝c̶̨͚̥̠̺̻̋͂̓͆́̾͡k̺̺̪͇͖͓̙̻͓̆̔̅̉̑ s̢͚̳͉̙̯̏̎̏́͗͂̕͡a̸̢̻̰̲̦͖̋̾̈̄̈̓̓͞͞ͅy̵̛̦̭̩̘͕̆̿͗̆̚ś̴͓̠̬̣͉̭̝̑̒̇̿͒̎̓͜͝ ḥ̡͙͓̜̜̖͖̾̐̊̍̈́͘͜͝ͅi̡̡̡̛̗̹̭̹͈͈͆̌̾̓̑̕͜͠

No one was able to access Jack’s youtube that night. The screen glitched wildly when they tried, and sometimes their entire computer would shut down with no warning. Across the black screens, out of the corner of their eyes, they would sometimes see a flash and hear the tone of eerie laughter. 

~ ~ ~ ~

Wiishu sat silent in her cell, listening for voices or movement. Marzia had passed by earlier, walking alone. There was something about this room that kept her inside, more than just the shackles, which she found she could easily get out of. Wiishu grabbed the bars of her cell, scanning the room, knowing that it wasn’t cement or metal that held her in, it was simply computer code. She should be able to hack her way out. But there was no panel in here. 

Of course not. She suddenly realized this area of the tower was not originally part of it. The tower wasn’t ever meant to hold prisoners. This is something Anti had programmed himself, and possibly why he needed Pewds. Pewds….Wiishu had seen him running out and she thought that must be good! He would find Mark and Pixl and they would come back. But would they come back? And to what? She had no idea where Anti was or if Jack was okay, and her mental connection with Signe seemed to be blocked in here. She had to get a door open, but how? 

Wiishu heard footsteps again, and saw Marzia’s shadow approaching.  
.  
She slunk down in the corner where she was less easily seen.

Marzia stopped right in front of the cell door.

“It’s been hours. Feel any different?” she said in a low voice.

“No, but apparently Pewds did. Came to his senses, huh Marzia?”

“That’s more than I can say for your boy.”

Marzia grabbed the bars of the door and a bright flash of blue static engulfed the room, making a loud crackle. Wiishu shut her eyes and when she opened them, the cell was gone along with her shackles, She was out in the open. But there was no time to react before Marzia had a hold of her throat, the blue light still flashing and crackling. Wiishu screamed.

Anti suddenly appeared in front of her, his eyes glowing like a wicked Cheshire Cat.

“I told you, I don’t have what you want!” Wiishu said forcefully.

Anti said nothing, reared his hand back and slapped her across the face. She screamed at the stinging sensation.

_Signe stopped in her tracks, grabbing her face suddenly as if she was startled. Everyone else stopped once they noticed she had stopped._

__

__

“Signe?” Sean approached her.

“Something’s wrong. Anti’s there...she’s scared.” Signe screamed as she felt Wiishu be slapped for a second time.

“ANTI! STOP!”

Jack shouted, his voice echoing back at him from inside his own head. It went out into a darkness, and faded away. Anti smirked, having only faintly heard his host shouting, but feeling his pain intensely.

“You see Wiishu, I don’t think you’ve been telling the truth. I think you know…exactly...” he struck her a third time, “What the codes I need are. And I know...” a fourth, “You’ve given off the rest to your little ragtag crew. Wiishu in danger? They’ll all come running now.”

_Sean could feel it too. The chaos in Jack’s head, the fear, the sadness. He was trying to talk to him but it seemed there was no reaching Jack now. Sean could only hope they wouldn’t be too late._

“You may as well just fucking glitch me! I’m not telling you anything! No one will! This world isn’t yours Anti!”

“Maybe not...but it will be. Just like theirs.”

Anti vanished from her sight and the room around her shook with darkness. The wires above became alight with energy cascading through the ether, they vibrated and hummed and powered through to the other side. Every connected laptop suddenly went dark, except for the green static that glitched across the screen. The people sat in front of their screen had eyes as dead as their laptops.

Back inside the grid, the lights above them started to go out one by one.

~ ~ ~ ~

“What’s happening?!” Sean yelled, helping Signe get to her feet. 

“It has to be Anti!” Mark yelled.

“Mark?” Pixl’s gaze turned upward, watching the multicolored lights above them fade away, “What’s happening to the lights?!”

“I don’t know.” Mark turned and looked out at the path ahead of them, “Something’s wrong! We need to get to the Parallel! Hurry!”

“Signe?”

“I’m okay.” Signe steadied herself, “Come on.” She grabbed Jack’s hand and the group started running, their goal closing in in the distance. 

They could see the panels moving, going dark one by one, closing together.

“Mark?!” Pixl yelled.

“Keep running!”

“I thought you guys had codes for this!” Jack shouted

“The Parallel doesn’t work like the rest of the grid. It operates separately. It triggers to close automatically during an emergency, the only way to get across if that happens is through a reset from the tower!” Pixl replied, his feet flying underneath him.

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Robin asked. 

“Honestly it’s never happened before, so it always seemed fine!”

“Guys!” Mark yelled, “Not now!”

As they were running, Sean clung tight to Signe’s hand, he couldn’t help but feel like somehow this was all his fault. He wondered if Jack could hear him now. He wondered if Anti could see them. It was a blur of sound and motion as Pixl reached the giant wall that divided the Northern grid from the Southern grid. It looked like sheets of blackness. Each piece moving, rumbling loudly, and some flashing grey and then fading to black.

“Let’s go! If the whole thing goes dark we’ve got no chance!” Pixl yelled.

He ushered Robin through first, then Signe and Sean followed. He crawled through afterward, looking back at Mark.

“Mark?”

“Something doesn’t feel right.” Mark said.

“Nothing feels right! Come on!”

“What if we’re missing something right here? What if we’re just not paying attention?”

“I’m paying attention to how much shit we’ll be in if the Parallel closes with you on the other side.”

“I know...I know…I just….I need to be sure.”

“Mark!”

Mark slowly made his way toward the gap...and noticing how close it was to shutting...he started sprinting.

He wasn’t going to make it.

In a leap of faith Mark reached out to pull himself through, ready to pull off some acrobatics if he needed, when someone reached through from the other side and pulled back. Rough. Mark was practically slammed into the ground. He groaned as he hit.

“This is no time to lollygag Markiplier!” a familiar voice shouted.

There was only one person who ever called him Markiplier.

“Pewds?” Mark peeled his eyes up from the ground.

Pewds stood awkwardly in front of the group, looking around at the people who looked like his friends, and the people who used to be his friends. 

“Miss me?” he asked with a sheepish grin.

~ ~ ~ ~

Jack didn’t think he had ever been this quiet before. Not only he himself, but everything around him was quiet. The very air and all the static in between. He couldn’t hear Anti, he couldn’t hear Sean, and he had lost the sound of Wiishu some time ago. The dark place had gotten darker, if that was possible. He had seen the trail of Pewds running off into the halls of the tower before Anti had flung him here. There were no walls, but he still felt like he had been slammed against one. He’d laid prone on the floor until his head stopped throbbing. He’d given everything. And had nothing left to give.

The air crackled around him, and he heard the soft sound of footsteps.

He jumped to his feet, exhausted, but prepared for Anti to appear at any moment.

But it wasn’t Anti. 

It was another very familiar face. Dressed in a casual t-shirt and snapback, his usual cheerful demeanor downcast toward the floor. He looked up and met Jack’s eyes.

“Chase?”

“What are you doing bro? You’re just gonna thrown in the towel? What the fuck?!” Chase yelled.

Behind Chase another figure appeared, white gloved hands clenched tightly, reaching up to remove the cat-eared mask from his face. 

“You can’t let him win Jack.” Marvin said, tears dripping over the edge of the faded scars around his eyes. “You’re our last hope.”

“We gave our best.” Jackie chimed in.

“Some of us gave more.” Schneeplestein added, his doctor’s scrubs stained with blood. He pulled his gloves off slowly and let them fall to the ground. 

“Listen to me.” Jackie was next to him, hands gently laid on his shoulders, “You’re stronger than this. Sean is still out there and Wiishu is fighting, don’t you dare think this is the end!”

“It’s my fault!” Jack cried, “I could feel him getting stronger and I didn’t tell anyone. I was too scared...I let this happen.”

“You can still stop it.” Chase said.

“No.”

“Yes!” Schneeple yelled, “Do not give up Jack! You already know what you must do!”

“I can’t. They depended on me...if I do that I….no, no, that can’t happen.”

“Then Anti will win.” Marvin said. “And everyone will be gone...eventually. Here, to the dark place.”

“No. Please, you can help me.” Jack pleaded to the others who shared his face.

Jackie was the last one remaining as they all flickered out one by one, slowly turning their backs and walking away into nothingness. Jackie looked on sadly.

“You know...” Jackie spoke, “We existed only as an extension of you...that’s why he came for us first. Why it was so easy for him. Did you even know we were gone?” He sighed, “It doesn’t matter now. There’s nothing we can do. But you have a chance...you just have to make the right decision. So...guess I’ll see you sooner or later old friend.”

And he too faded into the blackness.

Jack was alone again.

~ ~ ~ ~

“What the hell are you doing here?!” Mark yelled, facing Pewds in a threatening stance.

“It’s me, like the real me, I swear.”

“Shut up!” Mark drew his weapon, the long metal object sparking at it’s end, “Where’s Marzia then?”

“I couldn’t….I had to leave her behind. It was the only way.”

“I think it’s really him Mark.” Pixl said, “The transmitter isn’t picking up anything weird.”

“He’s with Anti...he could be fucking with it.”

“No, I don’t think so.” Pixl said, eyes still fixed on the transmitter. Mark hadn’t taken his eyes off Pewds.

“Even if it is you, why the hell should I trust you? You betrayed us.”

“Mark, I never meant for Cranky too...”

“Shut up!” Mark shoved his weapon in Pewds’ face at the mention of their lost friend’s name. 

“Look man I don’t know what’s happening, I don’t know why I was in that weird place. The last thing I remember I was with you, and the next thing I know I’m there and Jack is in front of me telling me to run. So I did.”

“You saw Jack?” Mark asked.

“That’s good right? That means Anti’s not totally in control, right?” Sean asked.

Pewds stared at him, “Is this another ego? I thought they were all dead.”

“No this is Sean.”

“Sean? Wait...wait...the Sean? Like...”

“Yes. Sean.”

Pewds gaze fell to the new member of their party. He stared for a long time. Uncomfortably long. He then looked at Signe, and then Robin, who were all equally quiet. Mark had been regaling them with tales of how Pewds had turned his back on them. Sean knew Felix himself had a penchant for getting himself in hot water, so in a way it made sense. But now...this person may have answers for them.

“Whoa.”

“Yep.” Robin said.

“You were at the Tower you said?” Sean asked, “You saw Anti and Jack? Both of them?”

“And Wiishu too, was she there?”

“Why would she be there?” Pewds asked to Mark.

“Anti found her a weeks ago.”

“Wait wait wait, a few weeks? How long have we been gone?”

“It’s been 104 clocked days since we last saw you.” Mark said with a stoic expression, his hands relaxing around the coil of his weapon. Pixl too was quiet, silencing the beeps of the transmitter. 

A strange silence hung in the air, making everyone uncomfortable. No one knew what to say next. Pewds looked around at the people he once considered his closest friends and felt only cold hostility from them, divided by an invisible line. Signe nudge Sean forward, signaling for him to break the ice, but before he could say anything Mark had turned around and pushed roughly past them directing the group another direction. 

“We don’t have time to stand here and re-acclimate you. If you’re coming then keep up, that goes for all of you. Let’s go.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Even as they walked, Mark kept his distance from Pewds, choosing instead to walk near Sean and Signe. The tower was in sight now, but Sean sensed they had slowed their pace. Like Mark was hesitating, overthinking, even keeping them away. It was quiet in Sean’s head, and he didn’t know if that was a good thing or not.

“He’s not there.” Sean said.

 

“No?” Mark asked.

“No.” Sean replied. “It worries me. Like, my brain can finally relax but at the same time...all the quiet...it has me on edge. I don’t like it.”

“My guess? He’s had to change plans. Jack threw a wrench in the works, one of his brain-drones got away, he has to figure something out fast. And he definitely knows we’re coming.”

“You think Wiishu might be in danger?” Sean asked.

“She was always in danger.” Mark replied.

“Guys!” Pewds called from near the back.

“Do you have something to contribute?” Mark asked. “Because if not I’d really prefer you kept quiet.”

“Ok...but I was just going to say that uh…..you’re going the wrong way.”

Everyone stopped and turned to look at Pewds, who was pointing to his left. “The North Tower is that way. I just came from there.”

“The North Tower is and always has been directly adjacent from the South Tower where we just came from, and after crossing the Parallel the grid follows clockwise for 2,000 squares, if we follow them all in a straight line that’s how we get to the tower. I can see it.” Mark pointed out in front of him, but when he turned to look, there was nothing.

“Mark, he’s right. It’s like it’s….moved.” Pixl said, studying the transmitter. 

“Look, Anti can do a lot of bullshit, but he can’t move solid objects ok? He just can’t.”

“What if he’s not moving the tower?” Robin suggested, “What if he’s rearranging the grid? I mean...all that flashing before must’ve done something.”

“The grid.” Mark paused, “Of course! Argh! Where can we...what can we…??” Mark looked around at the vast expanse of surface area, showing nothing in all directions. He looked back at Pewds, who was quiet, but had an ‘I-told-you-so’ look on his face. “Don’t you say anything. You want to help?” Pewds nodded. Mark reached for his spear-bow, letting it extend out and gripping it tight in his hand. “We follow you. Go.”

~ ~ ~ ~

A warm static ran through his body and Jack gasped, his eyes opening wide. As he took in his breath, he quickly surveyed his surroundings. He didn’t appear to be in the dark place anymore. But how could that be?

He also found he couldn’t move.

“Jack? Jack!” 

He heard his name called behind hitched breath.

He looked up and found Wiishu on the other side, her face twisted in a sad expression. She appeared to be alone, but she made no movement toward him. Instead standing still, arms straight at her sides. 

“Jack...I’m so sorry.”

He started to speak to her, when a figure stepped out of the shadows, grinning a familiar grin.

“Anti…” Jack watched as Anti’s hand rested on Wiishu’s shoulder and she turned away from him.

“What? How?”

“So sorry Jack, but I thought it must be getting so boring inside that little box. I couldn’t have you missing all the fun.” He laughed...if one would call it laughter. “So we found a way to bring you out here...with me...so you can watch as I kill all your friends. As for this one...well, if she doesn’t tell me the codes, I’ll destroy everything from the inside out. And those precious followers of yours, I’ll make them mad before I do.”

“You motherfucker! You won’t get away with this!” Jack pulled at his invisible bindings, “Someone will stop you. And if you kill me, we both die. This isn’t over!”

Wiishu watched as the form of Jack struggled and shouted and glared angrily at Anti, but all she could hear from his mouth was words garbled by an electronic noise, a blanket of static. His face didn’t appear clearly. Blurred through glitches and flashes of darkness. But to Jack everything looked normal. He couldn’t tell that Wiishu could only see this foggy image of him, like he was a memory, flickering in and out of existence.

“You forced me to do this.” Anti whispered sinisterly into Wiishu’s ear. “Thought those people could save you. Look how wrong you were. Now...give me….the codes.”

Wiishu sobbed as the cold sting of metal grazed against her skin.

~ ~ ~ ~

“I can’t hear her anymore.” Signe said. “Nothing.”

“We need to hurry.” Pixl said, “Pewds, how much further?”

“I don’t know...he’s fucked with it. It’s not as stable as it should be.” Pewds said, trudging in front of everyone. 

“God damn it Pewds!” Mark shouted, his fist clenched. He looked over to the perplexed expressions of Sean, Robin, and Signe...then sighing heavily as he continued. “This is partially your fault! Anti doesn’t have any idea what he’s doing. Wiishu obviously wasn’t giving him the access codes, so he’s been trying to rearrange the grid and erase walls and barriers to get to the locked locations. He’s fucking up the structure of the entire grid. You could figure it out for him, probably did. The tower is meant to be a stand-fast point of the sectors. By moving it he could cause the whole thing to collapse in on itself.”

“What happens then?” Robin asked.

Mark huffed, trying to calm down, “I don’t know.” He paced around Pewds, eyes fixed on him, holding his hand out to Pixl. “Give me the transmitter.” Pixl handed it over and Mark began to fidget with it, turning on all the switches, it started to beep and hum again.

“Mark.” Pixl gingerly spoke but Mark’s expression told him he should keep quiet.

There was nothing different about Pewds’ code. This was indeed the friend they had always known, back again.

“Why did you do it?” Mark gritted his teeth, “Tell me! Why did you fucking do it? We lost people. Cranky, and Jack, and now Wiishu probably too. He took the egos too...I could feel them as they died. None of them deserved that. You could’ve stopped it man. You let him get in your head and control you. Why?”

“I wanted to help Jack. I thought I could find a way from the inside. I never thought he could do those things. And I would’ve never dragged Marzia into it with me. It was just...a bad decision.”

“Our friends are gone Pewds, fuck your bad decision!” Mark sobbed, “Now take us to the tower...right now..or I swear I will send you to the dark place too. Or whatever the next closest thing is.” He threateningly pointed his weapon at Pewds.

“Whoa, whoa.” Sean said, stepping forward. “Mark...let’s be rational.”

“You’re not part of this, Sean. Just because you have Jack’s face doesn’t mean you get a say in anything.” 

Sean was practically pulled back by Pixl, who had personal experience in Mark’s moods and knew what it was best to leave him alone. Signe slid up next to him, sliding her arm across his back and squeezing gently, checking if he was okay. Pixl and Robin met eyes, Pixl shaking his head in silent communication.

“I didn’t escape on my own you know.” Pewds said, standing on guard, his shoulders squared up to Mark. “Jack helped. I couldn’t have gotten out without him. He knows I’ve always been on his side Mark. So why don’t you?”

“We go my way.” Mark nudged Pewds back, “As we should’ve been all along. Pixl...” he tossed the transmitter back and Pixl caught it with fumbling hands. “If that shows anything suspicious you tell me right away. I don’t trust him...” He starred down Pewds as he walked to the head of everyone, “Not one bit.” 

The group was silent as they continued on.

~ ~ ~ ~

The room felt like it was shaking. Jack couldn’t block out Wiishu’s screams though they had stopped. She was quiet now. Anti and Marzia had left the room some time ago, he wasn’t sure when, the vague concept of time they had here was even less when he was delirious. Being stuck like this, in some weird in between state, it was like his mind was one place and his body somewhere else. He would’ve rather stayed in the dark place. And as it went on it got worse and worse.

“Wiishu?” Jack tried to call to her, “Wiish? Woosher?” he called out her nicknames. He didn’t know if she could hear him, her head was down and she’d been still since he’d seen Anti leave. Jack sighed, “I’m so sorry I got you into this.” He sighed, “This is all my fault. Because I let him...I let him win. I didn’t think he’d have so much power. And then everyone was getting hurt...because of me. Or because of, who they thought I was. I didn’t even notice...when he took over. Because it was still me. Nobody noticed.” He looked across to his sweetheart, her body limp against the wall as she sat unresponsive. “I never wanted anything to happen to you and our friends.”  
He sniffled a tear away.

_Jack…._

__

__

Jack…

I think we’re getting closer…

JACK!!!

Jack’s head snapped up and he looked around for the voice that had called him. No one was there, but he’d heard a voice clear as day. Was it...could it be?? He replied hesitantly.

“Sean?”

_When Sean heard Jack’s voice break through all the static, he was overjoyed._

__

__

“Yes! Yes, its me! Oh my god, Jack! We were so worried! Are you okay? Is Wiishu okay? Where’s Anti?”

“Sean..slow down.” Signe smacked his arm, “Give him a minute.”

“Am I okay?” Jack repeated. His took a look at his surroundings again, “To be honest I don’t know if I can answer that right now. And Wiishu is...” He took a deep breath, “If Anti hurts her I’ll never forgive myself.”

_“Whoa, whoa, hey dude it’s gonna be okay. Pewds is with us.”_

“He found you?! Oh I’m so glad! I knew if he got out there’d be a better chance, but I didn’t know Anti had taken Wiishu. It may be all for nothing.”

_“No! Don’t you think that! We’re coming for you Jack...”_

Sean’s voice started to become garbled.

_“Just hold out a little longer...al...st...t...re...”_

“Sean?”

_“Jack?”_

The two boys, mirror images of each other, the same person on two planes, once again found their communication silenced. It was quiet in Jack’s mind again, until Anti burst in and he was thrown back into the dark place. He felt his mind slam roughly against the invisible wall.

“That was enough!” Anti shouted, “You served your purpose.” 

“You….” Jack pulled himself up, “You leave Wiishu alone. And you let our friends go.” His eyes flared angrily. He was beaten down, tired of feeling defenseless, determined to get control of his body back. “You either go back where you came from...or I take both of us...right here...right now.”

Anti cackled, “You think you can beat me? This is my world now. You’re nothing but a stain. I’ll fix it so that you won’t even know you’re own name when I’m done. You’ll be nothing but a memory to this place.” 

Jack had no retort for him this time. He was exhausted. 

“What? Nothing to say? Finally learned to keep your mouth shut?” His eyes went black and Anti’s knife appeared in his hand, blade shimmering. He vanished with a flash and reappeared behind Jack, the knife tight against his throat. “Scream once more for me. Let me remember how it felt when the darkness caught up with Jacksepticeye.”

_Sean…._

__

__

Help….

He wanted to shout. Wanted to scream at Anti to stop. But he found he could not make a sound.

~ ~ ~ ~

They were running up the tower steps, the doorway drawing near, feet striking the tiled ground. Mark had his weapon drawn and ready. The transmitter in Pixl’s hand began to beep wildly. And then...Signe noticed Sean wasn’t running anymore.

“Sean? What’s wrong?”

He had stopped a few feet behind her. 

He was hunched over, breathing slowly, hand in the center of his chest. 

“Jack?” Robin too voiced concern for him. 

The world around Sean seemed to be flickering on and off. He felt a tightness in his chest and a hot feeling in his throat. 

The transmitter became louder.

“Oh fuck, guys, this isn’t good.” Pixl exclaimed. 

“Is he here?!” Mark demanded, “Where is he?!”

Robin was still watching Sean, ready to go to his side and help him to his feet. He seemed to be getting his bearings. When Sean looked up at him.

“Jack, what’s happening? Are you okay?”

“We can’t let Anti win.” Sean said, pulling himself up, “He has to know...this power he has...it doesn’t belong to him. He stole it. And we’re taking it back.” 

The pain in his head became overwhelming. Sean shouted suddenly, but before Robin or anyone could rush to his aide, he vanished in a flash of light. Signe’s heart dropped.

“Sean! Sean! Where are you?! Sean?!’

The whole North Tower lit up with an eerie green glow, and in the place where their friend had stood, dark glitches began to flicker in the now empty space.


End file.
